Prisoners stage roof-top protest

A safety review of the prison was announced this week

Four prisoners are still holding a roof-top protest at the high-security Maghaberry Prison in Northern Ireland.

Three prisoners climbed on to the roof of Bush House in Maghaberry Prison near Lisburn and another prisoner climbed on to the roof of Roe House on Thursday night.

Army bomb disposal experts had been called to the remand houses to deal with suspect devices which turned out to be hoaxes.

Roe House was the scene in June of a roof-top protest involving eight loyalists, dissident republican and non-paramilitary inmates in the jail. It ended peacefully after the protesters spent one night on the roofs.

Visits to Bush House and Roe House on Friday have been suspended.

Safety review

The latest protest comes two days after Secretary of State Paul Murphy announced a safety review at Maghaberry prison, following the protests and attacks on prison officers' homes.

The consultation is to be led by John Steele, who was head of the Northern Ireland Prison Service from 1987 to 1992, and a former head of security policy for the Northern Ireland Office.

Mr Steele was inside the jail when the protest started.

At one stage, the protesters held up a sheet with the words 'Segregation Now'.

Tensions have increased at the jail in recent weeks with dissident republican prisoners staging dirty protests to demand segregation from loyalist inmates.

A Northern Ireland Office spokesman said none of the prisoners was involved in the dirty protest being staged at the jail by dissident republicans.